A Journey in the Future
by Angelbach
Summary: Middle-Earth has moved into the future and Bilbo is now a girl - the question is what else has changed and what has remained the same. (X-over with LOTR) Thilbo Bagginshield, Kili/OC, Frodo Baggins
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Journey in the Future

Author: Angelbach

Category: Bilbo/Thorin Kili/OC

Disclaimer: The world and characters of Middle-Earth belong to JRR Tolkien and New Line Cinema. All non-fandom characters belong to my imagination and I intend to mix and play with them as is necessary for this story.

Please note this polite and fair warning, if you don't like original characters and want incestual relationships, go jump in Mount Doom!

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Prologue

He remembered riddles in the dark and spiders in the woods. A dragon soaring through the air and wargs howling in the night.

He remembered stone giants crashing in the mountains and barrels rolling down the river. The sounds of city gates crashing shut and elven hunting horns from the depths of a tunnel path.

He remembered the playful song as plates flew across the dining room and the soulful depths of the mourning remembrance that followed. The eagles sweeping through the flames of fire and the voice crying out they were coming in the depths of battle.

He remembered the ice-blue eyes that burned hot for revenge for his people and dulled with the gold-sickness after the dragon's death. The skilled warrior who fought with no fear and the wounded king passing from the world before his time.

He remembered...

And then she woke up.

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_Hello and welcome to my new story! _

_I hope that I have caught your attention enough for you to return and look forward to your comments._

_But I will have no hesitation in removing any reviews from those who do not understand that this is an Alternate Universe story and will have a main original character paired with an original character._

_And to my other followers, I have not abandoned any of my other stories! Hey, I'm a female, I can multi-task! ;op_


	2. Chapter 2

See disclaimer in Part 1

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Part One

In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit but it was not the type of hole that her ancestors had lived in. This hole was in the side of the hill because it was more environmental to do so and more than that, it had a second level as well.

What! Hobbit homes don't have second levels; they don't like heights because of their size.

And once upon a time that would have been true except for one single event that happened deep in the past. An event to do with Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took – those two rascals that got lost deep in Fangorn Forest and if you don't know what that means, you really need to sack your ancient history teacher for not telling you the side legends of the War of the Rings - Tales of the Hobbits.

Now hobbits grow to a respectable five feet or so, well accept for the occasional Brandybuck or Took in direct descendant and one other character that you will shortly come to meet. (There is one other race that is now taller than they were in antiquity but that's not important right now, well not at this particular point in time and will be revealed at a later date.)

The hole of which we have been talking was called Bag-End and belonged to the influential Baggins family. In particular, the educated and well-travelled hobbit, one Bilbo Belladonna Baggins, her son Frodo (16) and her two wards, Aragorn (21) and Alaria (16) Dunedain.

Now Bilbo Baggins was considered to be a very respectable hobbit but accept for one single important thing – she had returned from her inter-planetary university education, pregnant and unmarried, which even in these more modern times, was considered to be something a hobbit did not do.

Well, that was if you spoke to her cousin, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins who fully believed she had the right to comment on everybody else's morals but was mainly ignored because everyone knew that she was a kleptomaniac (oh and that her son Lotho was not actually a Sackville-Baggins but a Sandyman but no-one openly talks about that).

It was because of the fact that Bilbo was head of the Baggins family and Mistress of Bag-End in Hobbiton and therefore technically the de-facto head of all Hobbits (with a seat on the Royal Council of the Gondorian Empire) that no-one ever openly objected to the fact that Bilbo was unmarried and a single mother.

(No-one mentioned the strange guards known as Rangers that seemed to appear on regular occasions since her return from the University of Gondor with her son and the two children of men sixteen years previously either – but that was just the hobbit way. As long as no-one drew untold attention to themselves, the hobbits were content to go on with their everyday business as if there was nothing unusual going around and on the satellite planet of the Shire).

Ah yes, now what were we talking about before we were side-tracked, of course the second level of Bag-End. Now Bag-End had a second level not only because hobbits no-longer disliked going upstairs but because of the two children of Men that had come to live with Bilbo Baggins on her return from the University. These two children had their rooms on this level as did Bilbo's son, Frodo (Bilbo herself preferred her room on the ground floor, it was easier to monitor the children when they tried to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night!)

Not much was known on Hobbiton about Bilbo's life away from the Shire but it was a well-known fact (at least in Hobbiton but again it was not one of those things spoken about and most definitely not with strangers or with different races – even the Rangers that seemed to be the children's bodyguards) that Bilbo had become friends with Gilraen, the wife of the Rangers chieftain, Arathorn, an extremely important Man.

How important only Bilbo Baggins knew and that was because she was a good student of ancient Middle-Earth history.

Arathorn had therefore, on the death of his wife shortly after the birth of their daughter (and considering that she was only a day younger that Bilbo's Frodo) asked Bilbo to foster his young son, Aragorn and the babe while they were of growing age.

Now there is a little known fact about Hobbits in this more advance age – they are no longer the little people who merely enjoy their homes, food, gardening, family and simply no adventures what so ever, thank you so much. No, the people of the planet Shire were more like the burglar Gandalf had called the original Bilbo Baggins.

Yet it was the Baggins family that had changed the most.

(Oh come on now readers, did you really think that all that time with the One Ring wouldn't have changed the fundamental DNA of the two hobbits that had worn it for some of the most important moments of its history. Well DUH!)

Most hobbits had the ability to disappear when necessary; it came from that time when they tried to avoid being noticed by the Big Folk. With the Baggins family, a whole different ball-game was introduced but only with those in family history that actually bore the name of Bilbo or Frodo, no matter their sex at that current time.

Bilbo and her son could turn themselves invisible whenever they wanted to– a fact that only very few people were aware of, Alaria and Aragorn being just two.

Life was a normal Hobbit life for the Baggins extended family – well, if you include frequent trips off planet once the children got mobile and their schooling started (which was most definitely not hobbit-like). And as was the hobbit way, no-one mentioned the weapons and fight training that they seemed to receive either.

Life was normal until both Frodo and Alaria reached the age of sixteen and returned from their first session at the University because it just so happened to be the day that a certain inter-planetary traveller once again made himself known to Bilbo.

A traveller known as Gandalf the Grey.

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_This is more of a slight background for the story, with several of the main changes I have made for my take on this alternate universe._

_The story should really start to take off in the next chapter._

_I look forward to hearing what you have to say so please leave a review ;op_


	3. Chapter 3

See Prologue for disclaimer

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Part Two

Bilbo Baggins sat outside her home, waiting with what would appear to be patience for her two youngest charges to arrive home from their first session at the University of Gondor. She had been a little wary of sending them to what was her alma mater after her experiences there but knew that the knowledge that they would gain there would be essential for the roles that the two children would one day have to bear.

She smiled to herself, even as she wrote out the list of chores she intended to present the two youngsters with on their arrival as a joke. (She was also sure that they would find a way to take their revenge on her but the playing of jokes in their small family, and a family they were – no matter how what others may have thought, was a tradition they took very seriously).

As she wrote out some of the most ridiculous things that she could think of, she was almost unaware of the tall figure that was slowly walking up the path to her home but deep instincts had her looking up just as they reached her gate.

She took one look at the man dressed completely in grey and sighed. "I would say good morning but somehow I think you're about to turn my day as grey as your clothing."

"That's not exactly the greeting I was expecting Mistress Baggins." Gandalf grinned as he put his pack down on the ground, reaching in to pull out a package to hand to her. "I believe that this is for the children, your station post-master asked me to deliver this when he realised I was coming here."

"For that, I will thank you. Frodo and Alaria have been waiting for this." Bilbo took the package and put it down on the list she set down beside her. Before she could further question the taller man about his unexpected presence at her home, the familiar sound of two much loved voices came from the bottom of the hill.

"Mama!" "Aunt B, we're home!"

With what only felt seconds later, her taller lanky black curly-haired son came running around the corner followed closely by his chestnut, waist-length wavy-haired faux-twin foster daughter. Both literally jumped the gate and landed in the garden, almost falling into her arms with gleeful cheers of joy to be home.

"Sweethearts, oh welcome home, sweethearts." She pressed kisses to both of their cheeks and their foreheads. "Oh I have missed you these last couple of weeks."

"Mama, we have to tell you something," Frodo looked slightly down into his slightly smaller mother's blue eyes. "It..." A dig in his ribs from Alaria however stopped him and he caught her slight nod to the tall man in grey watching them with unconcealed amusement, "... can wait until later. Gandalf, this is a surprise."

He ignored the muttered, "Not!" that came from Alaria but his nose twitched in hidden amusement and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, slightly squeezing them.

"Master Frodo, Milady Alaria." Gandalf bowed slightly to the two young persons. "I'm as delighted to see you as I am your mother."

"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Alaria murmured in her foster-mother's pointed ear and earning herself a sharp tug of the single plaited strand that fell over her shoulder. She also fell obediently quiet to the silent command.

Once she was sure that her two rambunctious children would now control themselves, Bilbo was more turned back to Gandalf. "Why are you here, Gandalf, you don't just turn up out of the blue without a reason, you're just not capable of doing so."

"Now really Bilbo, that's not a very nice thing to say." Gandalf pulled out a tablet and held it out to her, his grey eyes sparkling merrily. "Anyone would think that you were not happy to see me."

Bilbo merely tilted her head in response, not even to attempting to take the tablet from him. "Gandalf..."

The elder man shook his head, muttering under his breath as he pulled the tablet back. "Young people these days, no sense of humour!"

"Old people, incapable of coming to the point," Frodo murmured to his mother and foster-sibling, causing them both to swallow a giggle.

"This is not quite going the way I expected it to." The trio could hear him mutter to himself before he turned back to them. "I am looking for someone for an adventure."

"Gandalf, the children have only just come back from University, we don't have time for adventures at the moment." Bilbo replied as she turning, she gently pushed Frodo and Alaria towards the green front door of Bag-End. "Why don't you try the Prancing Pony at the Bree Way-station? I'm sure there's a hobbit or to who would be willing to help you."

"Bilbo..." The note in Gandalf's voice had her freezing in place. "It's for Erebor."

Bilbo closed her eyes as a wave of remembered pain shot through her slender frame and she shook her head. "No Gandalf, I... I cannot."

Neither adult noticed the anxious looks that the two youngsters suddenly shot at each other, eyes widening in sudden understanding. Frodo placed a finger to his lips quickly then pulled Alaria into Bag-End.

"Cannot or will not, Mistress Baggins." Gandalf asked a note of compassion in his voice as he noted her sadness. "I would not ask if this was not important, Bilbo, I promise you this."

"Try Bree-station, Gandalf." Bilbo merely repeated as she followed her son into the house. "The Mistress of Bag-End is presently not in the position to take on any extraneous adventures. Her son and daughter have returned home."

The green door of Bag-End slid shut and even the man in grey could not mistake the sound of old fashioned locks being turned, leaving him to sigh. "I am sorry, Bilbo but I really think that this is one adventure that you cannot turn down. It's time."

He stepped over the gate and held his hand to the side of the door, resting it beneath the name-plate for a moment. His hand glowed for a moment and when he lifted it, a strange symbol remained behind.

Once again the grey wizard had marked the House of Baggins but this time its occupants would not be quite so unprepared for what was to come. For this Bilbo Baggins had a son and foster-daughter who had brought not only themselves home from university, they had brought important news with them as well.

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_So what news do you think Frodo and Alaria have brought home from University with them?_

_It's a slight turnback in time for the next chapter - A Hobbit and his sister go to University_

_I appreciate all the views and favourites that I have been receiving but please don't forget to leave a review. As readers of my other stories know, sometimes those reviews can change the way I might go with a chapter._

_I look forward to hearing from you ;op_


	4. Chapter 4

_See disclaimer in part 1 and A/N at bottom of chapter_

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Part Three

Inside Bag-End, Frodo and Alaria were having what could only be a silent conversation, hands and eyebrows flying wildly as they discussed the information that they had brought home.

"So, we're just going to blurt it out then!" Alaria threw her hands up into the air and dropped down on the sofa behind her. "Hey Aunt B, you'll never guess who we met while we were at the U, not that they know who we are!"

"If I'm not going to guess it, Alaria, why don't you just tell me in plain old-fashioned Westron?" Bilbo's musical tones had both teenagers jumping in shock and making her laugh. "Darling children, did you really think I did not notice the looks you gave each other when Gandalf mentioned Erebor..." Without even realising it, she winced when she said the mountain kingdom's name. "I'm your mother, darlings, I know you two far too well."

Frodo was at her side in a flash, his arm around his slightly smaller mother's shoulders as he drew her over to the sofa to sit between himself and his foster sister. "Mama, we..." He shared a glance across her head with Alaria and then nodded. "We met Fili and Kili while we were at University."

Bilbo tensed and both her children immediately covered her hands with theirs. "Don't look so worried, Aunt Bilbo, they still don't know who he is. For some reason we lucked out and had one of those classes where the tutor refuses to use surnames because there are several siblings in his class."

Bilbo took a deep breath and squeezed their hands back. "Alright, children, start at the beginning and try not to leave out any detail – they may be more important that you know."

_Flashback_

_"A whole semester, I cannot believe that we are going to have to stay here a whole semester!" Alaria swung round in a circle as she looked at the suite of room she was going to share with her foster brother with an air of over-dramatic excitability. "And a suite at that, this is just so..."_

_"Ria!" Frodo sighed as he pushed her out of the way and sat down on one of the sofas in their sitting room, dropping the bag he had been carrying next to it. "Please stop, there's no-one here but me and we've got more important things to consider than putting on an act for everyone like normal."_

_Alaria dropped down beside him and put her head down on his shoulder. "I know, I'm sorry but you know... you know it may not be them, Frodo." She said out of the blue making him jump. "After all, they can't be the only ones in the worlds with those names."_

_"And just how likely is that going to be." Frodo shook his curls furiously. "No, it's definitely them, knowing our luck."_

_"Then we'll just have to do our best to make sure they don't find out who you are then." Alaria sat up; a firm look in her dark brown eyes as she swung her long tail of chestnut curls back over her shoulder. "And after all, it won't be the first or the last time we managed to swing under the wire."_

_"But I want to know them, Ria, I need to..." Frodo ran his hands into his curls._

_"I know, Frodo, you want to make friends with your cousins and you want to know about your father, their uncle as well." Alaria tugged his curls with a small grin. "Big brother, we're hobbit trained, what makes you think that we can't do that and still stay undiscovered."_

_Frodo turned to look at her and the familiar mischievous look in her eyes had him grinning himself. "Why do I get the feeling that I should be more worried about this than I am?"_

_That merely had them bursting into laughter as they collapsed against each other on the sofa._

_And hobbit-like they were, with the luck of a tutor who only called them by their first name because not only were the sons of Durin in this class but so were the twin sons of Elrond, second Lord of the tertiary Elven worlds, Ellrohir and Elladan._

_"You know, I really don't think we got all our memos about this class, Frodo." Alaria had murmured in her foster brother's ear from their seat at the back of the lecture hall. "Remind me to have words with big brother when next we see him."_

_"Aragorn may not have known either; you know how controlling 'He' is." He had returned even as he nodded towards the twins in acknowledgement. "It is after all why your father didn't want him to have anything to do with you when you were born, little sister."_

_"And here they come to sit with us!" Alaria actually whined in his ear making him wince, "Frodo, do something!"_

_Without even thinking twice about it, Frodo turned to the two dwarrow princes and called out to them, "Hey Fili, Kili, two seats up here, come on up."_

_And that had been the beginning of their friendship – with just something extra between Kili and Alaria, much to the amusement of their two elder siblings._

_End Flashback_

"But..." Frodo sat looking up at his mother, bright blue eyes taking in all the emotions floating through them. "Mama, it was a conversation that we overheard between my cousins that is most important to us right now, and it has to do with this adventure that Gandalf was talking about."

Bilbo caught the anxious look in her son's eyes and then found it mirrored in her foster-daughter's dark eyes as well. "Alright, my children spit it out.

"We had just been going back to the suite to pack to come home when we saw Fili and Kili received something from one of those weird galactic ravens." Alaria said softly as she played with a thread that was loose on her tunic. "I know we shouldn't have but there was something about the way they looked when they read it that had us drawing closer to see if we could hear anything."

Bilbo shook her head in bemusement, "One of these days, my beloved nosey-parkers; your insatiable curiosity is going to get you into trouble."

"I think trouble is going to find us anyway and the Grey Wanderer will have brought it here." Frodo spoke with a note of sharp authority she had never heard from her son before (although she had heard it in his father's voice). "The note told them to take the afternoon shuttle from Gondor to Shire where they were to make their way to a home with a round green door that would be appropriately marked to show they were in the right place."

With a growl that would have down a wild animal proud, Bilbo jumped to her feet and rushed to her front door. Throwing it open, she inspected it and then the name plate, hissing when she found the mark the grey wizard had left.

She spun round to the two teenagers that had followed her and put her hands on her hips, reaching out to take their hands on seeing how worried they looked. "What else did the letter say?"

"History's repeating itself, Aunt B," Alaria spoke softly, raising her hand to brush one of her bristling foster-mother's hobbit curls back. "Thirteen dwarves are coming here tonight..." She shared a quick glance with Frodo who nodded and waved his hand, encouraging her to continue. "And the first one here is likely to be..."

They shared a second glance, and they spoke together, well aware of their mother's feelings about this particular person. "... Dwalin."

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_And welcome to part 3 - I have no fixed timetable for when I will put further parts of this story up, sometimes it could take weeks or even days, it all depends on the muse and time available._

_All I ask is that you review, flames of course go straight to Mount Doom but all other comments are warmly welcomed - that's a hobbit welcome not a volcano welcome! LOL!_

_I'll also be twittering updates as well so PM me for my twitter address, so please follow me! The more followers I get, the strong possibility I may put up early hints!_

_Look forward to hearing from you ;op_


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